Eighty potential investors turned up at the fourth Cyberview Living Lab Accelerator (CLLA) Programme Demo Day on March 1 to listen to five start-ups from the fintech (financial technology) and IoT (internet of things) space pitch their business ideas.

At the end of the pitch session, a total of 96 meeting requests were made by the venture capitalists, angel investors, GLCs and bank representatives to further discuss potential investments and collaborations with the start-ups.

The Demo Day marked the completion of the five-month accelerator programme for the five tech start-ups, namely Otomate Me, Billplz, Tracker Hero, Prime Keeper and CurrenSeek.

Launched in November last year as a partnership between Cyberview Sdn Bhd and consulting firm Finnext Capital, the objective of the CLLA is to assist new fintech start-ups to pilot and validate their innovations before commercialisation.

Unlike in previous batches, the fourth intake focused on more mature start-ups that are on the brink of commercialising their solutions, says Cyberview general manager of technology hub development division Mahadhir Aziz.

“We consciously changed the model to focus on slightly mature start-ups this year. We went with a new programme manager, Finnext Capital, which specialises in fintech and IoT as we felt this was relevant within smart cities like Cyberjaya. In the past, start-ups were left to market forces to dictate their fate at preliminary stages but what excites me most this year is that we can see the start-ups move on to the next stage of commercialisation by year-end,” says Mahadhir.

The CLLA is the main driver of Cyberjaya’s positioning as a living lab for smart and sustainable city solutions. The living lab initiative is poised to attract innovators, entrepreneurs and start-ups to use Cyberjaya as their business hub.
Under the programme, the five shortlisted start-ups were provided with resources and facilities valued at RM50,000.

Besides given access to work out of the CoInnov8 co-working space at Cyberview’s office, the entrepreneurs could also seek guidance from the City Innovation Council (CIC).
The CIC, a collaborative platform comprising Cyberview, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Setia Haruman and Sepang Municipal Council, aims to provide endorsement, assistance and guidance to start-ups and SMEs seeking to test out prototypes and concepts that could be of value to Cyberjaya.